A medical device used for the treatment of biological liquids such as blood typically has an active component, such as a semipermeable membrane structure, contained inside a housing or casing. Normally, the biological liquid to be treated is passed into the housing so as to contact one major surface of the membrane, and another liquid is simultaneously passed into the housing so as to contact the other major surface of the membrane, wherein the membrane effects selective transfer of certain liquids and solutes from one liquid to the other through trans-membrane pores. Use of the device normally requires a machine adapted to, inter alia, controllably urge flow of the liquids through the device. Representative medical devices of this type include, but are not necessarily limited to, hemodialyzers, hemoconcentrators, hemofilters, and hemodiafilters.
Hydraulic ports are required in order to effect ingress and egress of liquids into and out of the device, respectively. The ports, generally of a male configuration extending from the housing, are normally dimensioned according to certain standards to ensure hydraulic connectability of the device to machines made by different manufacturers. But, safety reasons (e.g., prevention of accidental misconnection) have resulted in certain ports such as blood ports having very different geometrical profiles than other ports such as dialysate ports.
Since the medical devices are normally sold in a sterile condition, it is considered necessary to provide removable disposable caps for covering the ports from time of manufacture of the device until time for using the device. Contemporary caps are normally made of a molded plastic material suitable for medical applications, but are designed to cover only one type of port.
Prevailing medical economics have urged manufacturers to reduce medical-device manufacturing costs as much as possible. Especially since many medical devices as described above are manufactured using automated methods, there is a significant cost advantage in using as few different parts as possible to make each device. To this end, there is a need for a medical-device cap capable of fitting on ports of different geometries found on the device.